


tired but not

by qrizzly



Category: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Sibling Banter, only rated teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:22:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qrizzly/pseuds/qrizzly
Summary: it's three in the morning and the three of them can't sleep.





	tired but not

**Author's Note:**

> a fluffy oneshot i wrote from all the way back in july. kept in lowercase letters mostly because i'm too lazy to edit it

sam doesn't wake up to anything in particular. in fact, it's kind of hard to say whether she's "woken up" or not -- she's just kind of left this state of non-awakeness for about the 5th time tonight. she lies in bed, a leg hanging off of the edge, staring at the ceiling, too heavy to want to rise but too light to sleep.

it sucks.  
  
she glances at the digital clock on her bedside table. 3:21 A.M.

fuck it. sam thinks of [a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T1c7GkzRQQ), and when her mind gets through the rockin' chorus, she finally gathers enough energy to force herself up.  
  
it's only when she's fully sitting up on her bed that she notices charlie isn't anywhere in her room to be seen. she looks to the floor where he slept and is surprised to see a messy bundle of blankets and pillows where he was.

/ / /

  
she walks into the living room and notices that the television is already on, the volume set to a dull roar. sam can't imagine anything interesting is playing, but it's not what she's paying attention to.  
  
charlie, the Missing Boy, is sitting on the couch, knees up, with a pillow pressed to his chest. his hair is mussed and his eyes are at some point between squinting and closed, and holy shit -- she's pretty sure he's still in his boxers. she's never seen him so unapologetically untidy before.  
  
he doesn't seem to see her walk in through the hallway, so naturally sam takes advantage of the situation. she sneaks in his direction in her socks, hardly making a sound, even making sure not to breathe when she leans in so close to charlie's face she's sure he would feel it.  
  
she gives him a quick, but firm peck on the lips.  
  
charlie doesn't squeak, which is disappointing, but he does let out a startled "ah!" and scrambles to press himself further against the couch in an attempt to flee.

sam snorts. "good morning. i was about to put up missing posters everywhere," she greets casually, plopping herself beside charlie on the couch.  
  
charlie sighs with relief at the realization that it's just sam. he hugs his pillow closer and glances at the clock. it's only been ten minutes since he snuck out of her room. it feels like it's been hours. "good morning," he says, his voice heavy with sleep. he clears his throat. "can you not sleep either?"  
  
sam props her head on her hand and her elbow on the arm of the couch. "nope." her tired eyes squint. " _soccer_? really?" she grins.  
  
"i don't know what the teams are even named," charlie admits. sam replies with a  _pft._  
  
sam stares at the tv, despite being uninterested. charlie stares at sam. he's not really used to seeing her without the usual makeup, and her short hair is messy and tossed. she looks almost as tired as he feels. somehow, though, she still manages to be pretty, even with the pale light of the television cast over her face in the dark.  
  
"oh, fuck," says a slightly-croaking, but ever expressive voice from the hallway, and charlie almost jolts. "what's up with you animals?"

 _he's loud_ , charlie thinks, anxiety involuntarily nudging at him, but he remembers the siblings' explanation that their parents are used to their midnight yelling and are resigned to bothering them about it anymore. charlie relaxes.

sam doesn't reply to patrick except for throwing a pillow half-heartedly at him, so charlie answers for her: "we're tired and watching soccer."  
  
" _soccer_?" patrick raises an eyebrow and smirks, catching the pillow before it hits his chest. "i see. prime entertainment." he glances at the tv before throwing the pillow back at sam twice as hard. sam snickers good-naturedly. "i'm gonna go get a bowl of ice cream," patrick says, walking past the couch.  
  
"get me a bowl, too," sam adds immediately.  
  
"no fuck you, get your own," patrick calls from the kitchen.  
  
"unbelievable. your ice cream will be hearing from my throw pillow about this."  
  
" _fiiine_ ," he groans. "mint chocolate chip, right?"  
  
" _vanilla_ , you scumbag --"  
  
"mint chocolate it is!"  
  
"i'm gonna knock your bowl right out of your hands and when it breaks i'm gonna blame you."  
  
"fine! fuck! you are literally so boring." his amusement is audible.  
  
charlie can't help but laugh.  
  
by the time patrick returns, sam is flicking idly through the channels, immediately settling on a spanish soap opera that none of them are able to understand. patrick laughs at that and sits next to charlie, speaking in high voices and filling in for what the characters are saying. sam mimics unconvincing and completely unfitting sound effects, and charlie laughs his ass off, and it's ... it's perfect. charlie was planning on watching tv alone until he got tired.  
  
eventually, though, the spanish soap opera gives way to some other bullshit show and the trio groans with disappointment. they decide on watching their vhs copy of  _the breakfast club_  for the 9th time (the 3rd time for charlie). they're too tired to really give it their full attention.  
  
at 4:31, patrick notices charlie staring at the remnants of his ice cream. he snorts. "did you want something?"  
  
charlie looks up. "oh, uh, no."  
  
patrick rolls his eyes and hands his bowl over to the other boy. "you know you can just say you want my ice cream instead of drooling over it like a redneck over his cousin."  
  
"um ... ew," charlie smiles, taking the bowl, "but thank you."  
  
sam grimaces at the both of them. "you guys are  _both_  mint chocolate chip pricks?" she glares with overplayed disdain. "disgusting."  
  
charlie raises an eyebrow while the older boy throws his hands up, as if they'd been through this several times. "it's good!" they say in unison, before glancing at each other.  
  
"no!" sam laughs. "you've both been turned to the dark side!"  
  
"it's two against one, vanillabitch," patrick grins, throwing an arm around charlie's shoulders. the latter emphasizes his point by smiling and putting a spoonful in his mouth.  
  
"hey, vanilla isn't  _all_  i like, stop generalizing. i have every other flavor on my side." she stirs at her own ice cream, which has long turned to soup.  
  
"your loss, my dear," patrick shrugs dramatically, then looks back to charlie, brows furrowed. "uh, you have a little something."  
  
charlie blinks. "what?"  
  
"here, i'll get it," and patrick is closing in on the other before he knows it, and it's only when chapped lips pull away that charlie notices the weight of a chocolate chip on the corner of his mouth is gone.  
  
sam rolls her eyes and loudly scoffs with a smile, putting a spoonful of Vanilla Soup in her mouth. she looks over at her brother when he lets out a bubbly laugh.  
  
"ye -- haha, yeah, okay, your brother is being gay with your boyfriend and it's gross, whatever, grow up, but look at this fucker! he's red as a goddamn  _apple_!" he's beaming, pointing at charlie, who, to sam's dismay, is covering his face with his pillow. "no, come out, you coward!" patrick tries peeling the pillow away from the other's face, but charlie just buries his face in deeper.   
  
sam laughs and grabs the remote. "here, i'll put on soccer. he'll take the bait and watch it! he'd sacrifice anything, even his pride, to watch soccer!"  
  
charlie's voice is muffled. "i hate you guys."  
  
the siblings just giggle at him. they know that he means he loves them.

**Author's Note:**

> i really didn't expect my first public fanfic to be from so long ago but honestly?? i feel like my writing motivation/ability is tanking recently and i still like this so here u go. it isn't my best, but let me know if you liked it!!
> 
> (also, just so it's known, i've yet to read the book (yikes i really want to)!! so my apologies if anything was inaccurate !)
> 
> [made some tweaks to this 12/18/17, but just little ones, i didn't want to throw the feel of the fic off]


End file.
